A Little Bit of Belle: Belle's 24 Karat Cake

Vegetables are necessary for a balanced diet. My suggestion:

Carrot Cake.

Having tried out many carrot cake recipes in the past, and having always found fault with them for one reason or another, I decided to take all the things I liked about the various recipes and make my own.

And I'm glad I did. And I think you will be too.

Deemed "THE BEST carrot cake EVER" by all of its plate-lickers, I've been somewhat reluctant to share my secret recipe. I soon realized that was quite selfish of me. After all, when something is as brilliant as this recipe is, it should definitely be shared.

So here I am, being unselfish and sharing. (A+ for pre-school lessons!)

I give you... Belle's 24 Karat Cake.

Ingredients

CAKE:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded carrots (about 4 or 5 carrots)
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
2 tablespoons raisins

ICING:
1.5 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1.5 cups (12 ounces) cream cheese at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt
1.5 cups (12 ounces) mascarpone
1.5 teaspoons vanilla

To begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease and flour two 9" rounds.

To start on the cake, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Once combined, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla.

Mix together well with a wooden spoon.

NOTE: It will seem very moist and dough-y. Don't panic. That's how it should be.

Shred your carrots.

Throw them into the batter, along with the coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.

Stir, stir, stir.

You're almost finished with the cake now... just divide the batter into the two cake pans.

Smooth them out.

And stick 'em in the oven.

After about 38 minutes, take them out and leave them to cool.

And now for the frosting...

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the butter, cream cheese, pinch of salt, and powdered sugar till light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and beat till mixed in.

Next, gently beat (or manually fold) the mascarpone in. Be careful though, it you beat it too much, it could start to clump.

Once the mascarpone is fully mixed in, give your spoon / beater a lick (delish, yes?). Congrats, you've just finished with your icing.

Now the fun part... the assembly.

You can go about this various ways.

Previously (for my Dad's birthday), I went the traditional 2-layer way - with frosting in the middle, and all around the outsides (with walnuts and coconut on the edges of course).

This time around, I chose to go the more "rustic" route - with 4 thinner cake layers (halve the two cakes), frosting in between the layers, and dusted powdered sugar on top.